Charlevoix may lose GM franchise

CHARLEVOIX — The trickle-down effect which began when General Motors (GM) filed for bankruptcy in June 2009 could soon be felt in Charlevoix.

Once a king of auto manufacturing, sales and service, GM finally fell victim to a bad economy after years of sales slumps and organizational hiccups causing the auto maker to cut jobs, reduce the number of sales and service locations and take nearly $50 billion in taxpayer handouts in an effort to reorganize.

“We are going through the appeals process right now and hoping to get support from the community on this,” said Fox Charlevoix’s general manager Rick Summers. “If anybody wants to drop off a letter to me or send me a letter, that would be awesome.”

Summers is hoping public pressure will help change the minds of the corporate executives who decided Fox will lose its GM sales and service franchise in October of this year.

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Fox Charlevoix is one of more than 1,500 GM dealers appealing GM’s move to close nearly 2,800 franchises.

Despite above average rankings for both sales and service, Fox could lose its ability to sell GM makes and models or perform warranty work on them.

Summers said he suspects the call was made because Fox Charlevoix also sells Chrysler and Dodge brand vehicles.

If GM takes the franchise away, customers will be forced to drive at least 28 miles to the nearest GM franchise.

“That’s a hell of a long ride in summer traffic and it can be a hell of a long drive in the middle of winter,” Summers said.

Though sales were down last year, Summers said, because of the economy, Fox Charlevoix sold nearly 230 GM autos in 2008.

“There’s jobs at risk, no doubt about that,” he said. “And in this town and this day and age, every job is important.”

The case is set to go to arbitration later this summer.

“We will present our case to the arbitrator and then they will present their case,” Summers said. “One of the things they’re going to be looking at is impact on local communities.”

Summers said Fox Motors will continue to have a presence in Charlevoix regardless of the outcome.

“We will continue to be here selling Ford and Mercury no matter what happens, but there are a lot of GM people who are going to be inconvenienced,” he said. “Those roots run very deep for me. Both my parents worked for GM, so it was sort of a personal slap in the face for me.”